How do you "enforce" the schedule with 3-5 year olds?

[sharonb]

I don't have a strict schedule, but I do try to follow a routine. That is going pretty well, except for interruptions from the 3yo and 5yo. For example, even if I tell my 3yo to use her dry erase markers and workbooks (something she loves to do) at the kitchen table, she will still come into the living room when I'm reading to the older dc. I don't necessarily mind her being in there, except sometimes she is disruptive. Today she kept trying to push one of my sons over because she wanted to sit where he was sitting. Meanwhile, he was having trouble listening to me read. Then later on, I was letting the 3yo play with some rice and measuring cups, etc, and I told the 5yo that he needed to straighten up his room (something that he had been told to do earlier but still had not completed; his brothers had already cleaned up their things, so the 5yo just needed to pick up toys/clothes that are specifically his). Well, the 5yo kept whining and complaining and coming into the kitchen instead of doing what I asked. I was trying to work with my 1st grader on math, spelling, and phonics at the time.

I see all these schedules with special activites for the younger children, but HOW do you get them to actually stay and do them without interrupting you? My 5yo especially can be a bit difficult at times; I purposely planned LHTH first in our day so that he gets my attention first thing. And my 3yo is pretty typical for her age- if she sees someone doing something she wants to do, it doesn't matter how fun her activity is; she wants to do the other thing!

I talked with dh about this, and he's convinced that MOST of the time people aren't able to actually follow schedules that map out exactly what the preschoolers should be doing at any given time. I told him I don't agree with him (Carrie's and Julie's posts seem to indicate otherwise!), but I'm not sure HOW to do this.

The main thing I'm looking for are suggestions on getting a routine in place and enforcing it without having to stop reading ten times to tell the other children not to interrupt. I'm especially anxious about this now because we are starting Preparing on Monday, so we'll be running that in addition to Beyond and LHTH. I'm going to need some more uninterrupted time with my oldest dc in order to get Preparing done each day. We tend to be a "fly by the seat of our pants" kind of family, but the older my dc get, the more I'm seeing the value in having more routine. I'm not sure a strict schedule with times is going to work, but specific teaching blocks and planned activities would be good.

Right now the 1yo is actually the easy one, because he's content to play in his playpen during school (when it's not his naptime). It's the 3yo and 5yo that I need some help with!

[Heidi in AK]

No good ideas, but I wanted to bump your thread. I pray you get some great feedback.

[Tidbits of Learning]

I do not have a lot of suggestions for your 3 yr old. When my ds was 2 and 3, I always gave him specific activities that had a specific end time. I used a lot of Montessori materials on top of LHTH. They were for fun but they taught also. Melissa and Doug have a lot of puzzle type activities that would be less open ended than drawing or coloring. He also was allowed to dismantle my pantry and put it back together. Stacking cans was fun for some reason. He would have a book on cd time, a leap frog video, Melissa and Doug toy time, and he had a rest time. Anything that was for occupying him during school hours was never used outside of school hours. I mixed up the books, toys,and videos every week too. I don't know if this is anything different than you do now.
We also have a gate. He was physically gated in a different area than us. I could see and hear him, but he couldn't physically cause a disturbance in the room we were schooling. I would suggest a gate.
He is now 4 and he has 2 hours of school in the morning, a 30 min. recess, an hour of lego/train table time, lunch, and then a 2 hour rest time in his room (he does not have to sleep-he does have to stay in the room). At that point everyone is through with school for the day. Have you thought of adding in some computer time? My ds4 loves to play starfall.com and reading eggs. They are his phonics for now. He also watches leap frog videos. They are short and educational, but will normally buy you 30 min. uninterrupted.
Our punishments for disrupting school are time out chair and some times an early rest time. The early rest time works wonders. If he is cranky enough to disturb others, then he must need to rest and find his manners.
As far as actual scheduling that works. I stagger the kids. My older 2 are doing CTC and they work on their I boxes in the morning while I am getting ds4 and ds8 through their work. In order to keep ds8 and ds4 busy and to make the schedule work, I add in computer aided learning. ds8 does Jump Start 2nd grade while ds4 is doing starfall reading and I am working with dd10 on math. dd11 is doing typing during that time. ds8 does typing while I do the left side of LHFHG with ds4. ds4 does Reading Eggs while I do left side of BLHFHG with ds8, ds8 does copywork while I do math with dd11 as soon as I finish her instruction I do math with ds4, ds4 does reading eggs worksheets while I do math with ds8, ds 8 does jumpstart math booster and spelling bee while I do storytime with ds4. During this whole time, the girls are doing their independent work. We then have recess. After recess, the girls do more independent work while I finish the ers and storytime with ds8. ds4 is at his lego/train table. We have lunch. Then it is rest time for the boys. They go to separate rooms and can play, read books, listen to books on cd...but they have to stay in the room. I do all of the T & S boxes from CTC with the girls.
I fully use a timer all day long. I set our schedule up in 30 minute blocks. I don't have a lot of suggestions for keeping them both busy without distractions after you finish LHTH. My ds4 is doing 2 hours of school in the morning and that keeps him busy. Maybe you could add in some of the kindergarten activities from LHFHG such as handwriting, fine motor skills, and phonics to his day if he is ready? Do you think your 5 year old may be ready for a bit more? Starfall.com has free printables to go with their phonics.
As for chores, we have a set time for morning chores. If they aren't finished or if they are poorly done, I do not address it until after we are through for the school day. Most days my dc go outside after school, so if you didn't do your work or did a poor job then you miss out on outside time. This is normally punishment enough that it doesn't happen often. I find trying to oversee chores from a young child during the school day while doing school with others to be futile. It is easier to wait and be able to focus on the discipline of overseeing the chore and making sure it is done properly without a fuss.
I don't know if any of this is helpful, but it is what works for us.

[christina101902]

Use a digital kitchen timer for each child. That way the 15 or 20 minutes they are required to do their activities won't seem like the hours of miserable eternity To a child sitting at a table playing quietly alone, and others in the living room they most likely feel like they are missing out on something fun (even though its storytime). So let them know they are not allowed to stop the activities you schedule til the timer goes off.


Also big hint if you have a 5 min activity to give them an example of their future times, so they will know what it sounds like before themuch longer times during school.

[sharonb]

Thanks for the ideas.

Regarding computer activites- that's something I'm not going to add at this time. We used to have our old computer set up for the dc to use, but they kept breaking the mouse. I occasionally let them use my laptop (supervised), but it's not something I'm going to do routinely when I'm busy with the other dc for school.

The timer idea might work. I'm just trying to figure out structured I want to be. I know we need some structure, but I also want to be realistic. Super strict schedules just do not work with my personality! But I suppose the only way to make this work is to have a consistent routine so that the younger dc know what I expect of them each day. I'm just so schedule-challenged!

I think I need to spend the next few days reading the schedule thread and try to find some that have Preparing, Beyond, and Little Hands to get some ideas. I'm also going to read through the "keeping preschoolers busy" threads again. I'm always saying they have too many toys. Maybe it's time to pull some out for school-only use.

[MelInKansas]

Hey, I have a similar problem with my 2YO. Basically the advice I was given was to make sure things are moved and changed frequently, and for those times where interruptions are especially disruptive (when I am reading aloud, or when my 4YO is practicing her phonics for example) use your big guns. Video, room time (is what I do), listen to a book on CD if they like that, etc. Here's the thread where I had a similar question.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10601&p=77150

For my 2YO in her room time A) she gets toys she wouldn't normally get (its hard to always keep it fresh, she also has her snack at this time which sometimes backfires on me and I have to vaccuum but oh well) B) She knows she is not SUPPOSED to come out. If I hear her come out I go up and put her back in. I also do try to keep it as short as I can, 15-20 minutes is what I shoot for but sometimes it is longer. At the end of that (after I have read aloud to the older 2) I send my oldest up to play with her which she also likes, while I do phonics with my 4YO.

My schedule isn't "strict" per se but I too find that if we can keep it moving and have as few distractions as possible it works a lot better and the day doesn't seem to drag. For example, during Bible verse time, my 2YO would regularly interrupt and I would just tell her "shhh, we need to listen to sister doing her Bible verse now." I think she interrupts less now than she did. But interruptions are also less critical at that time, because we can always start again or it's not that hard to pick up the train of thought where we left off, so I just deal with it. Craft time/activity time, if the 2YO is at the table with us she is CONSTANTLY interrupting but again that is just part of the time, the older 2 can generally continue on with what they are doing even though the 2YO needs (or thinks she needs) some attention. I also let the 2YO wander off and do her own thing if that is what she wants but she usually wants to be up there doing something too - so I give her crayons or scissors or make her a simplified version of the craft we are doing and let her glue some pieces on. Big distraction. Oh well.

[mom23]

Could they have a special spot in the living room to do a puzzle, or something else quiet-like on a mat or bean bag-and let them know that they are allowed to stay there if they do not interrupt, but if they become disruptive they will have to go stay in the other room. We're also big fans of the timer, although I'm not sure how much they understand the timer at age 3...it may help just for them to see the time is actually ticking down while the numbers are moving. Then I'd be inclined to offer some type of reward if they can go the entire time without interrupting (a sticker or snack, or time for their own story with Mom). Another thing that sometimes seems to work is to make them feel they have an important job for that time-maybe they could be sorting socks, or putting dirty clothes in their hampers, or stacking the books neatly in the corner-they are sometimes more content to stay busy if Mommy "needs" them to do this other thing. HTH-good luck!